(From the diaries -- kos)
[Update -- The matchless Emptywheel fleshes out her skepticism at Firedoglake. Apparently, the rebroadcast on the local news picked up only a segment of the 60 Minutes broadcast, and so omitted "the part of the story that detailed plans to intentionally use the Federal Justice system to take out a political rival."]
[Update 2 -- The segment was apparently was rebroadcast in full on the affiliate newscast. Apologies for the misreading.]
The 60 Minutes Siegelman blackout story in Alabama has evolved since aggressiveprogressive's diary last night. Because ap's diary has fallen off the recommend list, I thought I would provide the update in diary format to encourage further research and action on the part of the board.
The break in the story comes from Scott Horton at Harper's, as relayed by Larisa Alexandrovna at her blog at-Largely.
Here's the nut:
Off the Air in Alabama
"I am now hearing from readers all across Northern Alabama—from Decatur to Huntsville and considerably on down—that a mysterious “service interruption” blocked the broadcast of only the Siegelman segment of 60 Minutes this evening. The broadcaster is Channel 19 WHNT, which serves Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee. This station was noteworthy for its hostility to Siegelman and support for his Republican adversary.
The station ran a trailer stating “We apologize that you missed the first segment of 60 Minutes tonight featuring ‘The Prosecution of Don Siegelman.’ It was a techincal problem with CBS out of New York."
I contacted CBS News in New York and was told that “there is no delicate way to put this: the WHNT claim is not true. There were no transmission difficulties. The problems were peculiar to Channel 19, which had the signal and had functioning transmitters.” I was told that the decision to blacken screens across Northern Alabama “could only have been an editorial call.”
Channel 19 is owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners, who can be contacted through Rhonda Barnat, 212-371-5999 or rb@abmac.com. Oak Hill Partners represents interests of the Bass family, which contribute heavily to the Republican Party. Viewers displeased about the channel’s decision to censor the broadcast should express their views directly to the station management or to the owners."
This is a very disturbing development that deserves this community's follow-up. CBS Corp. is denying an affiliate's attempt to assign blame to the network for the blackout. This may be an important piece of a developing scandal.